Madison— Gov. Scott Walker's office was told multiple times over the past year about problems at a troubled juvenile prison in northern Wisconsin, including claims of violence against youths and staff, inadequate classroom time, and the need to improve sexual assault safeguards, documents show.

Since dozens of agents this month raided the shared Northwoods campus of Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls, the Republican governor has said that he ordered immediate actions after being briefed on the alleged abuses just days before the raid.

But Walker's office had much earlier warnings about, and opportunities to act on, problems at the prison 30 miles north of Wausau, new documents show. The records were released Thursday to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the state's open records law.

Also Thursday, the Milwaukee County Board unanimously approved a resolution asking the county's circuit court judges to stop sentencing juvenile offenders to prisons until the investigation is completed.

The newly released records show that in fall 2014, Milwaukee County officials raised concerns about Lincoln Hills youths having inadequate classroom time and allegations of youths having arms broken by staffers.

In a Nov. 24, 2014, letter, then-juvenile corrections administrator Cari Taylor wrote to court and county officials statewide that the office of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall was investigating the Milwaukee County complaint.

But a separate email sent by Taylor to Milwaukee officials acknowledged that Lincoln Hills youths were spending only 15.5 hours a week in classrooms, less than the prison's 20 hours per week target, and were trying to fill teacher vacancies to improve that.

Kelly Knudsen, a former librarian at Lincoln Hills, has said that prison staff were then told to focus on "quantity (classroom time) over quality" through any means necessary, including showing students Hollywood movies.

On July 28, Kevin McCarthy, a retired corrections employee living near the Irma prison, wrote the governor's office that he was concerned about the safety of his daughter and friends, who still work at the facility.

"You have staff who are being assaulted, youth who are being assaulted, doors being broken, windows broken. What has to happen, does the sheriff's department or state police need to get involved when the staff at Lincoln Hills (lose) that institution?" McCarthy wrote on July 28.

Two days after McCarthy wrote Walker's office, Paul Westerhaus, then head of juvenile prisons for the state, wrote McCarthy back to say that "times have changed" since McCarthy retired, but that state officials were working to keep prison staff and inmates safe.

State and federal law enforcement began investigating Lincoln Hills in January 2015 after a referral by state Department of Corrections officials. And the documents show that lower-level staff in the governor's office did refer problems to Department of Corrections officials.

Walker spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster on Thursday defended the governor's responsiveness by pointing to that early referral to law enforcement and the broad measures announced by the administration in recent days, saying safety at the prison is a top priority.

But problems appear to have continued unabated, and no changes were made in leadership.

On July 15, an interim federal audit found that Lincoln Hills met 26 standards around preventing and responding to potential sexual assaults and failed to meet 13 standards. The audit called for: setting up a formal process for reviewing any assaults within 30 days; providing a greater role for a family member or other third party to file complaints or help a youth file one, including an emergency complaint for juveniles at imminent risk; and providing a way for inmates to report sexual assaults to an agency besides the Department of Corrections.

The audit found there was one case of substantiated sexual assault or harassment and 16 more unsubstantiated allegations.

On Nov. 19, Westerhaus sent an email about the audit to Wall and other top agency officials and that email was forwarded to the governor's office the next day. Westerhaus noted that youths at the prison told the federal auditor they felt safe.

"Everyone feels we are in good shape and will be able to meet all the standards," Westerhaus wrote.

Then, on Nov. 29, a youth offender at Lincoln Hills had his foot slammed in a door by a staffer who was trying to push the inmate into his room. The youth was so badly injured that some of his toes had to be amputated. There is video of the incident now in the hands of investigators.

After that incident, the administration adopted its current aggressive posture. On Dec. 3, two days before the Department of Justice raid on Lincoln Hills and four days after the slamming door incident, Westerhaus and Lincoln Hills Superintendent John Ourada were forced out of their jobs.

About Jason Stein

Jason Stein covers the state Capitol and is the author with his colleague Patrick Marley of "More than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin." His work has been recognized by journalism groups such as the American Society of News Editors, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors.

About Don Behm

Don Behm reports on Milwaukee County government, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the environment and communities in southeastern Wisconsin. He has won reporting awards for investigations of Great Lakes water pollution, Milwaukee's cryptosporidiosis outbreak, and the deaths of three sewer construction workers in a Menomonee Valley methane explosion.